“By inexperience, you can lose the line”: what they say about the activity of the skier Stepanova in social networks

"stocking up on popcorn"

One of the main newsmakers of the outgoing ski season in the Russian team along with Natalia Nepryaeva and Alexander Bolshunov was Veronika Stepanova.

But if the leaders of the national team dominated the races, then the 21-year-old athlete turned out to be in the first roles in social networks, and Elena Vyalbe, head of the FLGR, expressed concern about this fact.

The three-time Olympic champion fears that the girl who won gold in the relay at the Beijing Games is starting a star fever.

“The point is not so much in the media, in campaigns on TV channels, but in the immense participation in social networks.

It takes a lot of strength, affects the psyche.

I say this not because I’m some kind of grouchy president, but because we have many older athletes in our team and with a much more stable mentality, ”said the specialist in an interview with the Championship.

According to Vyalbe, in order for the result to be not only today, but also tomorrow, the skier needs to direct her thoughts in a different direction.

“And now she is not an athlete, but a patriotic blogger,” added the head of the FLGR.

However, the girl continues to bend her line.

According to Stepanova, it is only through openness, communication with subscribers and participation in various television projects that skiing can be developed and popularized.

“Already all respected people - in and around ski racing - have found it necessary to speak out about this.

It's my turn.

Stock up on popcorn.

I will talk for a long time, in detail.

Everything that prevents me from achieving my goals, I remove or drastically reduce from my life and career.

Everything that helps, on the contrary, I prioritize and develop.

My increased attention to what is commonly called media is just from the second category, ”Stepanova said in her Telegram channel.

Representatives of the sports community, talking about the out-of-competition activity of the skier, were divided in opinion.

Some supported the girl, noting that communication with journalists and fans is part of the work of athletes.

This opinion, in particular, was expressed by the medalist of the Beijing Olympics Christina Reztsova.

Others, like famed biathlete Alexander Tikhonov, are suggesting that the skier be removed from the team so that she can train herself.

Nothing new

The opinion of the biathlon world champion Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht looks the most balanced.

She drew attention to the large amount of strength and energy that is usually spent on participating in various programs and shows.

According to the biathlete, this situation greatly sucks the athlete, who “due to inexperience, can lose the edge.”

There are enough cases in sports history when talented athletes, having begun to actively engage in self-promotion and sponsors, either could no longer rise to their former heights, or did not achieve resounding victories at all.

One of the most striking examples of this can be called Anna Kournikova.

The Russian woman conquered the world at a young age.

Her coach Nick Bollettieri highly appreciated the potential of the girl and believed in her success.

“Already at the age of nine, it was clear that this was a personality.

This, excuse me, pearl from her every gesture, look.

I immediately, I remember, said that she would make an outstanding tennis player.

And he turned out to be right, ”said the specialist in an interview with Elena Vaitsekhovskaya.

However, the highest result in a single career Kournikova was the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1997.

Then she was only 16 years old.

Many predicted an incredible sports career for the young talent, but instead Anna became the face of glossy magazines, began acting in advertising for brands: from sportswear to underwear.

The Russian woman turned the world upside down, forcing advertisers to pay attention to tennis.

And, according to Bollettieri, this is precisely the main contribution of Kournikova to the development of sports.

At the same time, having a high income and incredible public love, we can say that the tennis player did not realize herself as an athlete.

In the first place in the world ranking, she was only in doubles, and in singles - only eighth.

The sports career of the long jumper Daria Klishina is not as bright as expected.

From an early age, she showed high results in the sector and became the European champion at the youth level.

In addition, the girl set a junior record in Russia.

All this, combined with her beautiful appearance, attracted the attention of the media and other world stars to her.

The athlete participated in the filming of one of the clips of Philip Kirkorov.

In addition, at the age of 20, Daria became a client of a large marketing agency IMG.

However, this was followed by a drop in results.

Klishina did not qualify for the London Olympics, and was injured in Tokyo, without speaking at the main start of the four-year period.

The highest achievement of the athlete so far remains the silver of the 2017 World Cup.

She has not yet completed her sports career, but is already considering options for what she could do next.

“Firstly, I recently started working with a young Canadian brand called Dryworld, which produces sportswear.

We have already released one collection, and soon... the second will be released, under my name — DK collection.

I am very interested in this direction, because it is not a big brand like Nike, Adidas or Puma.

Secondly, my agent is already involving me in the management process, where I can apply my education - sports marketing.

While I felt it all from the position of an athlete, now I look and try my hand from the other side, ”Klishina noted in an interview with RT.

"The real work will begin - everything will go away"

However, these two stories also have an important difference from what happens to Stepanova.

Both girls didn't turn themselves into superstars on purpose.

That's how the circumstances came about.

Kournikova, at the end of her sports career, practically ceased to communicate with the press.

Veronica, it seems, has set a goal for herself - to become popular.

She attracts attention with ambiguous statements such as “would you like to check if I have a forbidden motor in my panties, like Carlson, who lives on the roof?”.

And the main disappointment for the girl at the end of the season, according to her, is her non-participation in the plot with Alexander Legkov on Match TV.

“What I regret last season is that I didn’t manage to compete with Alexander Legkov in the uphill run.

Petter Northug came to shoot me for the Norwegian TV2, but somehow it didn’t work out with Legkov.

Hope it works out next season.

But I don’t really want to participate in an interview in the style of the 1970s.

It seems to me that my target audience will not watch this, ”Stepanova wrote in a column for Match TV.

In the future, it is logical to monetize this activity in social networks and the media into all the same sponsorship contracts.

There is nothing wrong with that: the age of an athlete is short, you need to take the maximum here and now. 

As Olympic champion Sergei Ustyugov notes, Stepanova is simply trying to fit into the realities of the modern world.

“She does what it takes in terms of promotion, in terms of becoming a media personality.

Nowadays it is normal to live in social networks and make money on it.

She gets a lot of hate, but hate is also attention, right?

As Dmitry Guberniev says: it doesn’t matter how they talk about you, it’s important what they say about you in principle, ”said the athlete in an interview with the Championship portal.

Probably, adhering to this position, the athlete has recently been actively commenting on issues not related to skiing, for example, the freestyle scandal.

She also constantly responds to foreign journalists and athletes who criticize Russia.

The girl believes that she can change the way Europeans think.

“Yes, I have a habit of reading foreign media.

When I see that they write a special kind of bullshit, I comment.

This improves the English we need and the general understanding of how modern Europeans think.

And they think, frankly, in a completely, completely different way.

My goal is to change them a bit.

Sometimes it succeeds, ”says Stepanova.

It remains to be hoped that there are enough experienced people around Veronika who can give good advice and influence the situation if she gets out of control and the very “line” that Yurlova-Perkht is talking about is lost.

The girl's coach Yegor Sorin has already promised to monitor the influence of social networks on her.

“We agreed: as soon as her media coverage interferes with the training process and begins to affect the results, I will immediately intervene.

For now, I want to see what happens next and do some analysis.

She has a lot of posts on a variety of topics, including those not related to sports, but if this does not interfere with her, but, on the contrary, makes it possible to be distracted, relax and thereby tune in to further work, why not?

Yes, I advise her not to go on TV again, because it takes energy, but I tend to trust the athlete, ”said the specialist.

He also explained Stepanova's increased activity with a lot of free time and promised that everything would change very soon.

“After the Olympics and taking into account all the circumstances, it was possible to allow the athlete a little freedom.

But as soon as the real work begins, everything will go away, ”the coach added.